


Can't Leave it at That

by Tallihensia



Category: Outer Limits
Genre: Episode Tag, Fix-It, Gen, Original Characters - Freeform, Outer Limits was really grim, it's mostly the original stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 14:58:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6157342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a routine scouting mission, Casey and the crew of the spaceship come across an alien behemoth... that has within it's maw several other spaceships.  They evade their own capture, then seek to explore and free the others held within.<br/>---<br/>At the end of the Outer Limits episode, Tempests, the characters were left in the grip of an alien lifeform.  A grim and ambigous ending, like most Outer Limits.  This was a fic designed to rescue them from that ending because I just couldn't leave it like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Leave it at That

**Author's Note:**

> This story has a bit of an odd tale for how it came about, which all started with a pilot for a show that never made it to a series called Island City. This is not a story about Island City. This was me poking around to see what other things actor Eric McCormack had done and finding this Outer Limits episode. Like most Outer Limits of the day, it made my hair raise on end with the ending. Yikes. And, well, I decided they needed to be rescued. {cough} 
> 
> This was my pure indulgence and I don't know that I ever even shared it anywhere at the time. Maybe with Tainry. ^^ But I was rereading the old fics and decided hey, why not put it up on AO3 anyhow. Maybe somebody out there will appreciate it too. Original writing 1997.
> 
> I'm not bothering to change the self-indulgent title, because that's really what it was. ^^
> 
> The story is actually pretty much all original characters and the situation for how they find the Outer Limits characters because, well, it needed to be *logical* to rescue them. ;p 
> 
> If you're really curious, there's a [wikipedia summary of the Outer Limits episode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempests_%28The_Outer_Limits%29)

# Can’t Leave it at That...

 

“Alright, Dave, take her out.” Casey watched the readouts carefully. Coming out of hyperspace matrix was a routine occurrence, but still needed attention. She worked the damping sequence as Dave scanned for singularities and initiated the sequencing. As they came out of the matrix, her navigator activated the main thrusters at a 15x25z angle. It was a habit left over from the war. Not really necessary anymore, but it made them all feel better.

The ship yawed and slew to the right and up as lights flickered and anything not secured went on projectile courses around the cabin. “What?”

“Gravity well!” Jamie yelled from her station, “Navicomp says Rilium 4 -- Gas Giant.”

“Bull!”

“I know. I’m working on it.”

While they were talking, Dave at navigation was busy with the engines, which had automatically cut off with the sudden gravity pull. He shut off the field generator and suddenly they were weightless, but the ship stabilized better.

“I can do a hot burst, Cap’t.”

“Do it.” Dangerous, but it might break them out. Otherwise, the engines wouldn’t come back on-line for another 20 seconds, which would be in the planet -- if there was a planet. Casey knew her ship and her navigation and they hadn’t come out anywhere near Rilium 4. If they had, the laws of space travel had just had a rewrite. The ship started to shake as Dave’s actions started to have effect and pull against the gravity.

“Activating our jammers.” Jamie spoke calmly, but there was an undercurrent of fury. After the jammers came on, there was a scream of stressed metal somewhere and things that had been at the front of the ship abruptly flew the opposite way. Objects shattered, control panels sparked, and there were some yells as people were hit. Dave hastily cut off the retros, and activated the field generator which restored the balance of gravity, though they were still heading away at a very decent speed.   Casey listened to the emergency calls through the ship and took a quick report from the engine room.

When there were two seconds of relative calm, Jamie explained, “It wasn’t a gravity well. It was a tractor combined with a illuscan of the gas giant. If we hadn’t come out at an angle, we’d be straight inside that thing.” She transferred her data to the main screen. They all stared at it in awe. Casey activated the weapons’ system. Just in case.

“It’s nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s huge.” That was an understatement. The thing was three times the width of their own ship, and long. Very, very long.

“Is it... organic?”

“Sure looks that way.”

“Scanning any weapons?”

“Not recognizable.”

The giant opaque space jellyfish made no aggressive actions towards them, and instead started moving away from them. “Tristan, get some buoys on that thing. Dave, follow it. Jamie, can we tractor it?”

“Do we want to?” Jamie growled, then answered the question. “Neg...” she trailed off and started muttering under her breath. “Tristan -- scan this.”

Casey left them to it, knowing she’d get a report when Jamie had information. After listening to the medical report on injuries, and getting first aid for their own group, she watched as the tracking and jamming buoys locked on the jellyfish. _Squid? Those... tentacles don’t look like grabbers, more maneuvering... And it’s longer than a jellyfish. Whale? Comparing it to an Earth animal is silly._ Casey berated herself, then focused on more important things.

“Captain, we’re up to 25K.”

They were pacing it, maintaining a reasonable distance. 25K was fast for intersystem. But the... squid was making a turn now... Off the plane. _We can’t let this get away._ Casey and Dave conferred briefly as to what a disabling blow might be. The consensus came back with a try at the tentacles.

“Casey, there’re ships in that thing.” Jamie finally gave her report.

“Say that again?”

“That... squid thing eats ships. I’m getting readings off no fewer than five ships inside it. -- Or at least five somethings with basic ship metallic content and electronic mix. The interference is horrid, but I’m sure that’s what it is.”

Jamie wouldn’t report it without good data to back it up. If she didn’t have the data, she said so. “Any signs of life?”

Tristan shook her head, but not in a negative, “Between our jammers and the squid’s mass -- can’t tell.”

Casey cursed silently.

“Captain, 70K.”

Getting too fast for them without going into hyperspace matrix. _What makes that thing move?_ “Disable strike.” Casey put the maneuvers alert on.

They focused on the tentacles and concentrated. The thing went into evasive maneuvers -- at 70K. “Geez. Hang on.” Dave kept up, but the field generators had trouble keeping the gravity stable. Casey concentrated on her attack. A tentacle came off. Suddenly, the squid came to a stop and so did they, staying well away. After its abrupt stop, the thing started drifting more aimlessly.

“Did we kill it?”

“Were we getting life signs in the first place?”

“Jamie, switch off our jammer. But keep your finger on the trigger.”

There was a tense wait as Jamie did so. Then a further one as they waited for something to happen. Nothing did, and they relaxed somewhat.

Casey shrugged, “Well, we seem to have done something. The question on the board is what do we do now?” By phrasing the question in such a way, she opened up the floor for discussion.

The officers looked at each other and at the image hanging motionless in their screens. The discussion started going around. They were on a routine scouting mission, with an eventual goal to get to the Paleontologic Outpost with supplies, but nothing urgent. This obviously took priority, but how far should they go before getting help? And what would keep it there while they did? Did their disabling shot kill the thing? Would it decay? Or would it go into attack mode sometime soon? Was it natural or created? The tractor suggested created, but nature was strange. What about the ships inside? Were there survivors? _J.J.’s ship is the obvious one to investigate this. They’re only a few solar systems over by matrix. A relay buoy would fetch him. Less fast then we can get there, but..._ She ordered one away with all the data they had so far. This would definitely perk J.J.’s interest. Now if only nothing happened...

“Permission to maneuver so I can get a scan inside?” Tristan frowned at her boards. Casey nodded at Dave, and he moved the ship in front of and slightly to one side of the opening at the end. _The mouth._ It was not the most restful of places to be. “Damn, I hope this thing doesn’t know how to bluff.”

As the minutes ticked by, Casey got reports from the damage control sections and medical. Their ship was as lucky as its namesake, the avian tulimar on their planet, and they had gotten off with only minor injuries and repairable damage. The vast majority of injuries and damage was from flying objects. Casey made a note to herself to schedule a talk on securing loose objects. Not that the crew would really need it after this, but...

“Life readings. Human.”

Casey swallowed. She hadn’t really wanted to hear that. That meant a rescue. Inside that thing. _Damn._ “How many, and what is their location?”

“Can’t tell how many. The readings I’m getting are very faint. Just enough to get the basics from the ship relay. Their ultra-low frequency radio works, and Jamie’s got a patch in through that, kindof. I think I’m getting an auto distress call from it, but it’s odd.”

“What sort of ship? And location?”

“First one in. It’s about a Klick down in the gullet. It looks like an Earth Carrier. Maximum crew possible: six. I’m getting sortof readings from another ship further in, but it’s not... Oh, I can’t tell. But the first ship is definitely human.”

Meaning Tristan thought the second was not. She wasn’t going to commit to it, but that’s what she thought. _Yes, J.J. is definitely the person to investigate._ They didn’t have an indefinite supply of buoys. _We’ll send one more out just before we go in. This much info will give him a head start._ She sighed and called for the tactical team. They’d go in armed.

 

“There’s the ship. It’s a Carrier all right. Less than perfect repair.”

“Well, what would you expect after being eaten by a giant squid.”

“What would you expect of a ship from Earth?” That got some laughter.

“What off Earth is the thing beyond it?”

“Skeleton.”

“Obvious.”

“Airborne. But huge. Looks almost dinosaurish.”

“We can assume it wasn’t intelligent.”

“Why not?”

“Because the squid ate it.”

“Are we going to get to the rescue soon? Dinosaurs can wait.”

“I am not landing the Scout on that.”

Casey agreed with Ray’s evaluation. The scan of the ground near the Carrier didn’t look promising. Squishy.

“Who knows what digestive acids might be in that muck.”

“Huh?”

“We’re inside a squid -- stomachs are to digest food.”

_Oh thank you, very much, for that thought, Ray. As if the dino hadn’t been enough reminder._ “Tristan.”

“If this is a Preadot relic, it would have been made to capture enemy ships -- not digest them.”

“I meant, ‘scan it,’ Tristan.”

“Oh. Sorry, Captain.” She did so, and as she did, the topic discussion went around.

“Preadot? You really think so?”

“They worked in organtics.”

“Yeah, but so did the Sanswatch.”

“But we don’t know anything about the Sanswatch.”

“We don’t know anything about the Preadot.” A wave of laughter followed. Their civilization had spend most of the last hundred sols researching the Preadot, but there was still much unknown about that ancient alien race.

“Cut the chatter.” The ground wasn’t corrosive, but Casey still didn’t like landing there. She thought for a moment while the small Scout hovered over the Carrier. “Take us back towards the entrance.” There was firmer ground there. “We’ll hike in. Rand, stay ready for a pickup. Nathan, you stay with him.” The doctor wasn’t happy at the order, but recognized the necessity.

 

“What the hell was that?”

“Spider?”

“No spider I’ve seen. Lobster?”

“Scorpion?”

“No front claws.”

“But it scuttled like a scorpion, not like a spider.”

“Maybe it was friendly.”

The group all glared at Hassan. He held up his hands, “Probably not. Just an idea, folks.”

“Tess, check it out.” The biologist moved forward and examined the charred remains as the small group circled to cover her and backed away from the side of the ship. “Tristan, what’s the reading now?”

“Life readings are still there, but still faint. Level of coma state. I’ve got three moderate strong ones and another that could be an echo.” She added, “They haven’t changed since I started picking them up.”

_No immediate rush then. Go by the plan. Carefully._ They waited in silence. After a minute, Tess stood up. Casey waited for a report and when she didn’t get one, prompted Tess, “Well?”

She looked over, “Sorry, Captain. Can’t really tell much.” Tess made a gesture of exasperation within her suit. “It’s fried. But it is organic. Carbon based. And I’d watch out for it’s claws if we run into any more of them.” She held up the front portion of the critter -- the edges on the small claws shone sharp and clear.

“Damn.” Casey moved nearer to look. “That could get a suit, no doubt.” The atmosphere inside was thin, 70mpm, and they couldn’t breath it, but they wouldn’t die as fast as if there was no atmosphere. All personnel were already on alert for retro-breathers and patches. There was a dim glow in the air -- equivalent to atmospheric filter. No immediate indications as to where it came from. Casey was struck by a thought and looked over to Tristan, “Tris -- did that thing show up on your scans?”

Tristan was obviously startled and hunched over her equipment, reviewing the data. She looked up, worried, and said flatly, “No.”

“Umm.”

“Try a setting on a bi-alpha-diath pattern,” suggested Tess. She moved over next to Tristan and the two of them conferred while the others stood around, nervous.

_I thought you couldn’t tell anything..._ Casey didn’t say it outloud. Her people weren’t going to move in any closer with no idea of what they were approaching, but she waved Hassan, Rosa, and Ray out for a outer sweep in the direction of the side of the ship. She and Booker moved to adjust for the cover disbursement.

“Gee, that’s nasty.”

Casey craned her head, but couldn’t see what Ray was looking at. She focused her gaze back to watching her cover area. “Ray, elaborate, please.”

“Oh, sorry KC.” Ray always spoke her name like that. “Half their ship is crumbled in the muck. Must have been a hot landing to bury it like that.”

Casey cut in on that, “Don’t get too close to the ship.”

“Oh. There’s another one.” Ray sounded disgruntled.

“And one over here.” Rosa paused, “Here’s the airlock. Looks functional.”

“Don’t get too close. Another one what?”

“Scuttles. Dead. Not charred as bad as ours either.”

“They probably didn’t have five fohal* beams focused on it.”*(Focused Heat And Light) (as opposed to laser)

Tess started moving, “I’ve got to go see that.”

“Tess!” Tristan hauled her back for help on a final adjustment on the scanner. “Captain, I’m starting to pick them up now. Sortof.”

“Regroup, people.” Casey waited until the other three were near enough to cover them before leaning over to see what Tristan had. Tristan had changed it to the new readings, which were picking up lifeforms, but had a lot of unknowns and ‘possible’ factors marked on the side. The indication was that several were in their immediate area, by distance factor, apparently hidden around the sides of the ship. “Can you transfer that to a diagram and overlay us?”

“Yes...” Tristan apparently wasn’t totally sure, but she made a few adjustments and the screen changed to a diagram. Casey immediately saw what the problem was: The human readings were so clear that the faint alien scuttles were regulated to mere ‘possible’ shadows. But it was good enough.

 

“Hassan! 10!”

Another scuttle blasted. The group bunched up again.

“That’s it.” With the additional seven scuttles to examine, Tristan had refined the scanner. Tess had wanted one captured to study, but Casey vetoed it firmly. There were other scuttles further out, but none had approached the area yet. Inside the ship, however...

“How’re the humans?”

“No change on the readings.”

Casey chewed on the side of the tubing inside her helmet, careful not to activate the food or water output. It was crowded inside the Carrier, and she wanted a plan before going in. There were at least ten scuttles inside. And lots of crawl spaces inside a Carrier. With four humans inside already (Tess had ruled the echoes as definite faint presence), that didn’t leave much room. The scuttles didn’t seem to be in any sort of ambush pattern, and didn’t show signs of being alerted to their presence. They didn’t seem to have any more than a rudimentary intelligence. They headed for warm bodies and tried to attack. Self-preservation seemed to be limited to skulking in the shadows until a good attack position came across their field of view.

“Tess, are they tracking us by infra-red, or what? Not chemical. Not through space suits. Movement?”

The biologist frowned at her instruments then shrugged, “Infra’s a good bet, but I wouldn’t rule out movement.”

“You’re a big help.”

Tess shrugged again, “Well, if you’d catch me a live one instead of frying the beasties. Or even just give me ten minutes in my lab with the ones we do have.”

_Eh. Back to the Scouter, fire it up, fly back to the ship... Who the hell knows when the squid is going to repair itself and take off... Humans in coma state..._ Outloud, she summarized, “Not enough time. Rosa, can we rig up a heater?”

“To our body temps? Yeah. Give me a minute.”

 

“Rosa!” Ray tore the scuttle off her leg. The claws laid open his suit and tore across his hands but he managed to throw it to the floor where Casey burned it dead.

“Goddamn. Goddamn, that hurts!” Rosa sank to the floor, moaning, but trying to control the pain.

Booker hurried over and knelt down next to her, removing his helmet and unlatching his gloves. He coughed, and warned the others that the air was thin. He cut the suit section around the wound and applied pressure with one hand while getting supplies with the other. He left her helmet on and pumping oxygen to her. It was leaking out the opening, but inside the ship, the pressure was nearly equal. Tristan took care of Ray’s hands.

Tess burned another scuttle heading towards them. “That’s six.”

Hassan moved over, his voice shaky, “There are four more, but they’re not moving.”

Casey came up beside him and looked at the four cocooned bodies, each with a scuttle sitting on top. She could make out the faces through the webbing. The scuttles had suckers attached on the people’s neck, and fluids were flowing through. “Oh...” Casey swallowed and moved further into the hub, looking around.

“KC, I don’t feel well.” Ray’s voice was faint. Casey turned just as Tristan supported Ray in a controlled collapse to the floor.

“Tess, Tristan, Hassan.” Casey waved to the hub even as she moved back, “Check it out. I want as much data as you can get. Tess: Evaluate the scuttles, but don’t touch ‘em. Tristan: Get me records. Hassan: See if you can get the life support on this hunk of junk working.” She knelt next to their wounded pair and addressed Booker, “Antibiotics?”

“Rosa. Didn’t do Ray.” He glanced at the wrapping around Rosa’s leg. “I’m having a hard time getting the bleeding to stop. Anti-congealent. And some corrosive as well. Avoid the white liquid -- it melted my latex.”

Casey’s eyes went wide at the sight of his discarded gloves even as she was putting on her own. She coughed. The air was thin, but it was easier to work without the helmet. She got out the antibiotics and selected a sedative. Booker questioned it. Casey replied, “I want to lower their metabolisms.” She listened to Rosa mumbling, and added, “It’s affecting the higher centers. If we can block the receptors, we’ll have a better safety margin.” _Some things work faster with unconscious patients, but I don’t think so in this case. Odds are usually the opposite way, and I don’t like the way the swiftness of reaction of this poison._ She gathered up samples in test-tubes and carefully packed them while she called the Scout over. Landing was still not a good idea, but the Scout was designed to hover smoothly. The gravity here wasn’t a problem. Close to their own, in fact, though it would be heavy for Earthers.

“Casey. I’ve got some notes on the poison. They called them ‘spiders’ and obviously didn’t have much time, but one of the people was a doctor. The poison affects the hypothalamus cortex and produces intense hallucinations.” Casey nodded. About what she’d figured. Good to have it confirmed. Tristan continued, “Not much more. But, Casey, these people were transporting a serum for a virus to their colony. The... Alegis C Virus... To the Tablos Colony.”

“Tablos?” Tess looked up.

Booker shook his head, “Never heard of it.”

“Not many nowadays we would have heard about. Tris -- can you find a starmap with that?” _Things just keep piling up._ “How much time did they have?”

“They date things differently, but from the rate of life-support dissipation, I’d guess they haven’t been here for more than three days or so.”

“Fudgeit!” Hassan’s yell made them all jump, and then his fohal flared and the smell of scorched scuttle went up. Casey resisted the urge to pinch her nose -- the internal process of the scuttles were definitely on the acidic side. “Gods,” Hassan whispered, then elaborated, “The things attached to the people... Some eggs just hatched or something. A couple of small ones scurried out. Damn.” Another flare. “Another one. Tristan, what the hell are your scanners reading?”

Tristan scrambled for her databoard that she’d put down when doing the information retrieval. “Two more. At… 12’100 to you.” She waited until there was another charred mess in the wiring above them. “And… In the controls below you. ‘Third meter and down.”

“Uh…” Hassan sounded dubious about his range of sight for that one.

“I got it.” Tess sounded confident, and her shot proved her right.

“Tight beam. Nice.”

“Didn’t want to get the wiring.”

“Wouldn’t make much difference, frankly. This hunk of junk is going nowhere.”

Casey stood up, “Life-supports?”

Hassan shook his head, “Their engine was damaged when they crashed, and this old motel doesn’t have independents.”

“Doesn’t have an independent backup for the life-supports?” Casey was frankly astonished, and the others echoed her.

“Had.” Hassan corrected himself. “It looks as if it was disabled about 10 sols ago.”

“Oh, good. Nice ship.”

“We’re here, Captain. Lowering supports.” Rand’s voice came in faintly through her helmet. Casey snatched it off the floor and put it back on. “Affirmative. Be out in a jiff. Tess – relay your info to the good Doctor out there.”

“Already did.” Tess’ reply overlaid the doctor’s response, “Already got it. I’m working on it.”

Casey looked dubiously at the spare suits in the airlock. Two had rips in them – scuttle work. The others were in better condition than the ship, but still old-fashioned and incompatible with their own. She unfastened the patch kit on her suit and nodded at Booker, who helped her put a patch over Rosa’s leg. She removed her gloves and replaced Ray’s with them.

“Tristan, what is the scuttle status outside the ship?”

“They’re starting to gather. I wouldn’t recommend opening the airlock right now.”

“Rand?”

“I can do a flame around the area -- is the airlock standard compo?”

Hassan came over and looked, “It’ll do.” He picked up Ray, grunting a little, Booker took Rosa, and they moved out of the airlock as it was shortly going to get rather hot.

“Flame on.”

Tristan was still working with the ship’s computers, but she glanced over at the scanner. “That’s got ‘em. Not reading anything out there within a 50m radius.”

Casey gestured at the others. “Tristan and I will stay here for now. Leave us two extra suits and four... no, five wraps and breathers. And some straps and pulleys. Take the data and the serum back to the ship and start studying. Get a iso-chamber ready. By the time you get back,” she eyed the cocoons speculatively, “we’ll’ve figured out how to get these people out.”

“Captain?”

“It should be fine. We’ll keep an eye on the scuttles, and the hull integrity is still good.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” Casey grinned at her friends and crew, “Now get!”

 

After they left, Tristan spoke seriously, “Would you rather have Jamie come over here and work on this?”

Casey laughed, “I think you’re perfectly competent to pull data out of an old computer and download it for further study. Scanners isn’t your only talent.”

Tristan grinned. “Do you ever regret leaving the medical profession?”

“Now that’s a loaded question.” Casey looked over the cocooned bodies. Since they’d come inside, one of the life readings had dropped down. The other two were still strong. Of the four bodies, two of them were completely covered in webs and she could barely make out features. Surprisingly, one of the strong life signals was from one of those. The other two were only lightly cocooned. The lady’s face was contorted in pain, thin and drawn. Her’s was the weakest signal. Casey knelt down next to the last person and studied him for a moment.

“Casey?”

She sighed, and didn’t look up, “Do I regret going into space and finding out the joys and wonders out here? No. I love it here in space. And I love the freedom of command. The ship is mine to direct and choose what small, blue planetoid to explore next. The responsibility goes with it. I would not now give up space.

“Do I regret the senseless act of war that made us leave our peaceful ways and professions and unlock secrets that we’d decided not to tamper with? The loss of lives and trust that were previously so bright? Very much so.”

Tristan was quiet for a long moment. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. Sorry. But it’s what I think.”

“We all lost something, didn’t we?” Tristan was drawn into Casey’s reflections.

Casey tried to shake off the mood. Mostly, her people were a cheerful bunch, and left memories far behind. But neither had they really had to deal with casualties or viruses or Colony-wide disasters since those times.

The man she was looking at was young, probably in his twenties. _Twenties in sols. Earthers go by... Years. What was that conversion rate? Early thirties then. But wait, he was a colonist of... I forget its name. But not years either. I wonder what they go by?_ He wasn’t in the pain the woman showed -- he just looked unconscious. His was the strongest life reading. Dark hair fell about the pale face. Casey wanted to get a comb and tidy it up, under the webs. The scuttle attached to him stirred a bit and seemed to look at her. Casey hastily backed up.

“Tris, which scuttle was it that the little scuttles came from?”

Tristan pointed to the full cocoon that held the weak life sign. Casey examined it, then looked at the others. The woman’s spider looked similar. The scutter on the young man was starting to develop a sac. “I think the presence of active lifeforms is triggering this.”

“Not good.”

“No,” Casey agreed. She started looking around the hub and poking in corners that weren’t blocked off. The whole access to the crew quarters and engine section was blocked by automatic hull drops -- that side must have been decompressed in the crash. She couldn’t see anything that would help her figure out what to do.

“I think I’ve got it. You might want to take off your helmet and cover your ears. Electronics are going to be squealing if this works.”

Puzzled, but trusting her scanner officer, Casey complied. There was, indeed, a squealing. Sharp at first, the noise level dropped to a tolerable level. Casey took her hands off her ears and addressed Tristan, “What did that do?”

“It’s blocking our brainwaves. I’ve been reviewing Tess’ data on those things, and put together with the refinements that I had to make while making the scanners detect those lifeforms, I’m theorizing that they track by brainwave.” Tristan reclined in the command chair but kept her eye on the instruments. “From what we’ve seen so far in this critter, I would estimate the chances of it being of alien manufacture, rather than native alien evolution, are pretty darn good. Particularly the illuscan. There’s the bianth over in sector 6 that has a tractor as an evolutionary development, and I wouldn’t bet against a natural jammer, but that illuscan...”

“And so the scuttle spider must also have been manufactured -- or altered. And the dino was eaten, but these people are preserved. Therefore, it must have some way of distinguishing between sentient and animal -- ergo, brainwaves.” Casey agreed. It was logical, and agreed with what they knew of the Preadot civilization and their millennia-long battle with the yet undiscovered Sanswatch race.

Tristan agreed with her evaluation. “I reviewed my scans from just before the new scuttles hatched, and there was an increased metabolic activity from that spider just before. When you noticed the other one, the scans showed the same.” She reached out and ran a finger along one particular number. “The rate is going down, now.”

“Is this also blocking them from the comatose humans?” _I wouldn’t want the scuttles to think they were dead and so kill them._

“No change in the control of autonomic functions. I think the direct contact is different.”

Casey nodded, then changed subject, “For moving them out, I think we have two basic options: Either we seal off the hub, then laser it off from the ship and tractor it;” Tristan made a choking sound at the enormity of that scenario. Casey continued without a break, “Or we cut out the floor around them, and put wraps around them and transport that that way.” She regarded the cocoons bleakly, “I don’t want to disturb those webs. That’s not an option unless all else fails. I’m not sure how moving them will affect the critters, but we have to. Method One would involve the least disruption, and is comparatively easiest, but we’d have to get the _Tulimar_ in here. I don’t want to bring my ship into the squid. But if the other way proves too dangerous to the people, that might be the only recourse.”

She pulled out some pylons from the bag and looked at the cocoons, “Try first with the weakest, or the strongest?” There were obvious problems with both scenarios.

“How about one in-between?”

“Eh.” Casey decided to start setting up around the second strongest signal. “Do we have names for these people yet?” Airlock notwithstanding, Casey rather thought that the top of the ship would have to be cut off for getting the people out. But then into the Scout... She drove in the pylons at a third meter from around the cocoon. No effect from the scuttle yet. She stripped off her suit to maneuver easier. She trusted Tristan to tell her if any problems came up.

“Two of them are from the Tablos Colony -- Commander John Virgil and Captain Stanislaf Parker. The other two are Earthers: Doctor Leo Vasquez, and Governor Madrey.”

“Governor?”

Tristan shrugged, “Don’t look at me.” Then she answered the question, “I think they are the administrators for large groupings of cities.”

“Ah.” Casey tugged on the ropes and made sure they were totally secure on the roofing. Then she started cutting away the floor, with nervous glances at the scuttle. “Who’s who?”

Tristan picked up a picture from off the side of the command station, “I rather think John Virgil must be the young one. This is his station, and this looks like a picture of wife and child. No idea on the others.”

“I’m going to haul it up now. Watch the readings.” Casey pulled slowly and lifted the floor up about three decimeters. Tristan reported no change, so Casey eased it over to the side.

“Still no change. I think the scuttles are used to things bumping around.”

Casey locked it. She got one of the wraps out. “Tris, what do the scuttles breathe?”

“Breathe?”

“Well, they live in the muck outside, and they don’t seem to have a problem with in here. Admittedly, the life support is low...” That reminded Casey that she was starting to feel a little light-headed herself, and she put her helmet on for a few minutes of good air.

“In other words,” Tristan restated the problem into the right question, “Will putting a breather in the wrap with the people upset the scuttles?” She activated the radio, “I’ll pass that one on to Tess.”

 

Casey sat in her chair and breathed easy again. At her side, Tristan also sighed, “I’m glad we’re not in there anymore. It’s nerve-wracking wondering when a giant jellysquid is going to wake up and take off with one inside of it.”

Laughing, Casey agreed. “Dave, do we have coordinates for the Tablos Colony?”

“Yes, we do.” Dave put up a navimap of the Arm. “Hell of a ways from us as the crow flies -- Apparently Earth started colonizing the systems the other direction up the arm from us after they left. But if you’ll note the rotation of the curve of the arm,” he demonstrated by having it turn, “there’s not much in-between us on a straight line. If we go open, matrix will get us there in seven days.”

_Seven..._ “That’s cold. How about if we go hot?”

Dave frowned, “If we stay hot the whole way, three days.”

“Eh.” Casey drummed her fingers, “Well, that confirms what type of propulsion the jellysquid used.”

“Why?”

Tristan answered, “Because the Carrier had been picked up in their home system, but by life support dissipation, hadn’t been there for more than three days.”

“Told you. Preadot,” Jamie interjected smugly.

“Not necessarily--”

Casey interrupted. Debates on Preadot vs. Sanswatch could last days among her crew. “Tristan, send a buoy home telling them we’re not going to make our rendezvous with the Paleontologic Outpost, and we’re probably going to use the supplies on a mercy mission to the Tablos Colony.”

Tristan paused with her fingers dancing over the keyboard, “That’s it?”

“Squirt the whole of the data for the last day with it, but verbatim: That’s it.” Casey grinned. She was giving her friends a nice puzzle to work on until they sorted out the data. “Append all additional data to the buoy tracking the squid for J.J.” She thought about that, then added, “And pump as much additional power as you can into that buoy. I want it to be able to stay with the squid no matter what. Dave, when she’s done, take us out, hot.” She stood up again, “Jamie, you’re in charge for the next few days.”

Jamie twisted around to look at her in surprise, “Where’ll you be?”

Casey grimaced, “Med lab. Nathan and Matt are working on the virus serum. Analyzing and familiarizing for prep for what we’ll find when we get to the Colony. Rosa and Ray are going to be fine, but will need a few days. That leaves the people from the Carrier to me and Tess.”

 

A lock of hair fell over her eyes, and Casey swiped it back with the back of her wrist. As soon as it moved to one side, it fell again, and Casey straightened up with an exclamation of annoyance. The low-gravity they were working in messed up a lot of automatic reflexes. Tess looked over, but didn’t say anything. Nathan didn’t move. After a few more minutes of study, he spoke, “Casey, I think you’ve got it. Everything you have down here looks good to me. I would suggest trying it on Commander Virgil first. With the natural suppressers in his blood from his first exposure, he’s got the best chance of survival when the scuttle is removed.” A sortof squeaking sound came from Casey’s throat. The doctor looked up from the computer to her. After studying her for a moment, as if she was one of the specimens, he grinned, not without sympathy. “Casey, I can’t do it. You’re the one who’s been studying this all along, and at this point you know more about it than any of us. Maybe if I reviewed all your notes and did some looking for myself for a half day or so... But we’re due to come out of matrix in less than six hours. And their best chance of survival is speed. There wasn’t much we could do without getting the scuttlespiders off them, and there wasn’t any way of getting the scuttles out before, but you’ve got a plan now. It looks like a good one, and you’re the one who will carry it through.” He sighed, and the dark circles under his eyes became more apparent. “I’ve got one more batch of alternate serum to prepare -- I still don’t like the looks of the original stuff. I wish they’d had a copy of the actual virus on board. And then I’ve got to get some sleep, because I don’t think I’ll be getting much once we get to the Colony.”

Casey bowed her head in defeat and tried to strengthen her confidence. She was the Captain of the _Tulimar_ , and she made life and death decisions. Not as often as in the war, but they still came up. She knew well what it was like to have the responsibility of a person’s life in her hands. But her medical training was so long ago... She would have liked Nathan to have done the actual procedure. But he was right. _Six hours. I’ve got time to take the scuttle off John Virgil and monitor the danger period. No time for anyone else unless I risked being in the middle of the operation during damping. No thank you. The other three will have to be done once we’re on Tablos._ “Okay. Tess, could you call Ray, please. And Sam. I’ll scrub, and we’ll get started in ten minutes. Could you also make sure that our second iso-chamber is ready.”

Tess smiled, “Casey, I’ve checked it five times today. I’ve got everything equalibralized to match this environment. All but the brainjam. The beds are ready for patients, with complete monitoring equipment.” She saw Casey’s look and laughed, “But I’ll check it again after I call Sam and Ray.”

 

Casey sat down in the chair next to her first patient. Her nerves were shot, but it seemed to have come off okay. _In more ways than one. Oh, I’m too tired to pun._ Tess had taken the scuttle and moved to a worklab. Casey watched the readouts monitoring John Virgil’s health. He was doing about as her plan had predicted. Health was increasing slowly overall. The brainwaves were still focused around the activity in the hypothalamus cortex, but the synthetic suppressers were damping that down to a more normal coma state. Once an equilibrium was reached, she’d try taking him out of the artificial coma and see how much of the poison had been eliminated. And then try filtering more out. And when all that was removed, they’d see how badly his sanity had been affected by the overload. Casey sighed. It was a nasty poison. Even with the quick treatment Rosa and Ray had, they both had nightmares for the next day. _When something is too good to be true, it’s a nightmare._ Casey shuddered to think of the dreams she would have had if she’d had the poison. _Will... But it’s a good way to know what your true desire is. Who knows? Maybe that wouldn’t be what I would have dreamed after all._ But it didn’t really matter what. What mattered was the feeling of letdown and despair that came after. Half of that was purely chemical, and they were able to counter it easily for Rosa and Ray, but some of it was simply psychological, and there wasn’t much that could be done about that except just keep talking -- and listening -- to their friends.

As if on cue, the door opened, and Ray walked in. “Hi, KC.” He stumbled as he spoke, and glanced back to the threshold, “Boy, I really hate that.”

Casey stretched, “It’s actually fairly nice for just resting in.” _Reflexes notwithstanding._ They’d adjusted the field generator in the two iso-chambers until they found a gravity that the patients’ bodies seemed to react best to. From the readings of the patients, it seemed that the colonists lived with a lower gravity than even the Earth standard one. She wouldn’t say that prejudice against Earth had nothing to do with the choice, but the stronger life readings were from the colonists and they’d decided to adjust the field to the Tablos gravity. It was noticeably lighter than their own planet’s gravity.

 

“Captain, half-hour to damping.” Casey blinked, then tore her eyes off the monitors. When she closed her eyes, the readings continued to flicker behind her lids. _I think I’ve been staring at them way too long._ She opened her eyes and stared at them again. _And still no change?_ A surge of hope made it’s way through her. Truly, she’d been expecting some sort of disaster to come along and tear her patient’s life away. She hadn’t recognized that until now, but the relief was enormous. She triggered the mic, “I’ll be down in five.” She stood up, and the light-headed feel of the gravity kept her up. Ray came over and showed her his computations of the post-analysis on the procedure. _It’s all looking very good._

“We might as well prepare for the next one. When we get out of matrix, it should only be another two... three hours before setting down planet-side. I think we should keep the patients in our ship iso-chambers until... Well, until further notice.”

“The Captain next?”

Casey nodded. Stanislaf Parker’s life-signal was the next strongest, and it might also be good diplomatic status to work on the colonists. On the other hand, the Earth doctor was the supposed expert epidemiologist... But even if all went well, it would be days or even weeks before he would be conscious, and even then there would be a recovery period. At which point, the Colony would either be well on the road to recovery, or they’d all be dead. _Yes, the Captain next._

Leaving the room, she stumbled as she moved into the normal gravity corridor, “Urf.” Ray’s laughter rang out behind her, and she waved to him as she headed to the bridge.

 

“I’m here.” Casey finished braiding up her hair as she stepped through the door.

Jamie quickly took her own seat, “Thank goodness.”

Casey raised an eyebrow.

“I certainly don’t want to talk to them!”

Laughing, Casey acknowledged that she’d nearly forgotten that part of it. They were so wrapped up in getting there and what they would do, that all her early plans on how to deal with people they didn’t know had been put to one side. Time to take them out again. “Okay,” she switched on the all-speaker mic, “First rule of house, people, while we’re on Tablos: Please remember not to mention the Preadots.” There was an instant uproar. Casey quieted them down, “I know it’ll be hard, but remember: These people have ties to Earth. We don’t know how strong,” _Or how weak._ The records they’d gotten from the Carrier spoke more of tension then peace, though no specifics. “but they do have them. We all agreed that Earth should not learn of the Preadot. Nor the Sanswatch.” She cut off the standard joke with hardly a thought. “No talking engine or scan or anything specs. If you mention something everyday that we got from them,” she was interrupted with a few suggestions. She nodded and smoothly interjected one of them, “Like riatha bonds if you have them, just let the people believe that it’s something our own culture came up with in the last two hundred sols. Rule number two: Don’t mention our Colonies. Earth obviously knows about us. Just as obviously, they don’t know about our cousins or observation posts. Let’s keep it that way. Rule number three: We’re here to help. Do all you can, and let us love them as if they were our own.” She shut the mic off.

“Nice speech, Casey.” That was serious, but then her crew glared at her, “Not talk about Preadot? What are we suppose to do, sew our lips shut?” The conversation degenerated from there, even as they did all the appropriate prechecks for coming out of matrix.

“One minute, folks.” Casey got busy with her own board, “Initiating damping sequence.” She watched the readings and felt a barely perceptible shudder through the ship as they moved back into real space. “And we’re there.” She looked at the readout. Dave had gotten them in at an angle to the system plane, and it would take less than an hour to get to the appropriate planet. She frowned at her navigation officer -- that was a tricky entry in normal circumstances, let alone coming into a system blind. She scanned the communications board, “Jamie?”

“I’m getting a general Warn-Off on 59.3, band 7. The data we had from the Carrier had their emergency communications on band 5, but so far, I read nothing.”

“Well,...” Casey activated the outside lines, band 5. “Colony Tablos, this is the _Tulimar_. We request landing coordinates and permission. We are one hour outside your perimeter.” Jamie transferred a scan of the appropriate planetoid to her screen, noting a few possible landing spots. Casey nodded in acknowledgement as they waited for a reply.

They didn’t have to wait long. “ _Tul.. Tulmar_ , this is Tablos Colony. You do not have permission to land. We are a quarentined planet with a highly virulent pathogen. Warn-Off.”

Casey frowned a little, listening to them. The speech was slow and accented in strange places. “I think we’ve been seperated from the rest of humanity for awhile.” The crew laughed and a few jokes were made as to what they must sound like to the Tablosians. Casey re-activated the line, trying to speak slowly, “We understand. Through a rather unusual set of circumstances, we have your serum and are prepared to offer our complete assistance.”

A new voice broke in over the line, “John! Is John okay?”

Tristan looked over and mouthed, ‘Wife’ at her. Casey rolled her eyes and nodded, “We rescued four personnel from the Earth Carrier. One of them is a Captain John Virgil. At the moment, all are in... ah... stable, but critical conditions.”

When the mic was not picking up, Jamie commented, “Oh, good description,” not being sarcastic.

“Is he okay?”

“M’m, I repeat, stable, but critical condition. I would prefer not to give details over an open mic. May we have permission to land?”

The first voice came back on, “You have permission, _Tulmar_. Transmitting landing coordinates. And our thanks!”

Dave nodded as the coordinates came in and he verified them. Casey aknowledged it, “Thank you Tablos Colony. It is our duty and honor to help you.” She paused, then added, “And it’s the _Tulimar_. I’m Captain Casey. Could you please also transmit us a full data-copy of the virus and all your most current information as to stages and changes. Our doctor is awaiting the info urgently.”

“Certainly.” There was a long wait while people apparently confered on the planet. Finally the voice came back, “The information is being gathered. In the meantime, we realize you’ll give us a full report later, but please tell us what had happened to the _Tempus_. Last week we had a distress call from them, but when we investigated, we could find no sign of them. It was as if they were never there.”

“Ah. Well, when we... came across the situation, by emperical evidence, the Carrier had been eaten by a giant jelly-squid.” It sounded really dumb on the face of it. Casey had hoped not to answer that question until she had the evidence to show them. The Colony’s response surprised her.

“A leam??? They were eaten by a leam?”

“A _LEAM_??” “You know what they are?” “Are there more of them here?” “How long had it been in the system?” “Do you have any other Pr--”

Amid the general havok on her bridge, Casey caught the drift of Jamie’s question and cut her off quickly. “Quiet!” On the mic, she spoke, “Please, who am I talking with?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Lieutenant Marshall, in the Reserve Depot, temporarily working with Space Communications.”

Casey nodded -- with the virus, positions would be strained to the limits. She was surprised they’d gotten a human so quickly on the mic. But on the other hand, waiting for the returning Carrier was their only hope and undoubtly a priority. “So you know what it was?”

“Uhh, could you please repeat? Slower...?”

Making her voice deliberately slow again, Casey repeated the question. _This is going to be really annoying while we’re down there._

The communications answered her query, “Well, it sounds like a leam. We’ve had one roaming our solar system for a few years now. Mostly it hangs around Leiviath. Uh, that’s our gas giant. But we don’t know much about the leam -- it’s just there. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it eating a ship.”

The bridge crew traded glances, but managed to restrained from speculating outloud. Casey was proud of them, but she couldn’t resist a question of her own. “Was there something significant that happened a few years ago?”

There was a long pause, “We had a war. Where are you people from?”

_Ah. With Earth. And I think they lost. That explains a few things._ “We hail from the Riabol system. We were formerly known as the Palenti Colony. The leam showed up in our neck of the woods and tried to eat us. So we investigated.” _In a nutshell._

“The Lost Colony????” The person spoke with incedulus amazement.

With almost as much incedulism, and quite a lot of indignation, Casey spoke in time with the rest of her crew, “Lost????”

The comments continued to go around.

“Lost?”

“I don’t think so!”

“Is that what they told people?”

“If that’s what they told the colonies, imagine what they told Earthers.”

“Hey, we’re the Rebel Alliance! Fighting against the Evil Empire!! All Jedi Knights report to Kol.”

Casey had just drawn breath to quiet her folks down again, when Dave came out with the last statement. She choked as she laughed with the rest of them. When she’d regained her breath, she talked with the Lieutenant again, “Sorry about that. You took us by surprise. I wouldn’t describe us as ‘lost’.” She shrugged, “‘Abandoned’, might be a better term.”

“Or not.”

“Sragged.”

“Shafted.”

“Burcratized.”

The suggested terms became more course and Casey cut off the mic while she called for silence. When she got it, she turned them back on. “We’re still a bit sore about it.”

“Ahhhh...” The non-articulet pause from the other end lasted for awhile, as he apparently tried to absorb this new information.

Casey redirected the conversation, “Anyway, we’ve got a hundred-seventeen highly trained, if not well disciplined,” she glared at her crew, who laughed at her, “personnel, with varying specialties. Could you please transmit your most urgent requirements and needs within your Colony so that we can assist where we’d be the most useful?” She glanced at the clock, “We’ll be landing in just about a half-hour.”

“Certainly, Captain Cas... Casey?”

“That’s correct.”

“Is that your first or last name?”

Casey was surprised, “Well, we usually stay with the names we’re born with, and I don’t normally use an alias...”

Tristan cut her off, “Oh! That’s what all that is! They still use paranomers!!! The second name is the family name!”

“Ohhhh,” Casey finally understood the long, multi-syllable names that the database had been giving them. She kicked herself mentally for not thinking of it sooner. _But they look so human! Okay, are human. I’m just not used to thinking of different cultures within humanity._ “No. We just use one name.”

They settled down to the business of integrating the personnel of the _Tulimar_ with the rescue efforts, and distributing what supplies they were carrying. Nathan had already immunized everybody on the ship, including a ton of standard mixed antibiotics and other immune strengtheners. When he analized the data that the Colony had finally sent them about their current understanding of the virus, he would confirm their immunizations. About fourty people would stay on the ship with no exposure to the virus, but rather would work through terminals. That number included Casey, Ray, and the other six crew working with the four people off the _Tempus_.

 

END

**Author's Note:**

> In the original plans, I had a two-year follow on revising all of them and checking up on the characters, but no more than a few paragraphs of that ever got written, and the main part was done anyhow, so I'm not posting that part. Ending of the first part is a little abrupt mostly because it wasn't originally supposed to be the final ending.


End file.
